Caught in the middle of a relegation fight for the second consecutive season, Werder Bremen may be forced to offload U.S. Men’s National Team forward Josh Sargent this summer.
Bremen heads into the final week of the Bundesliga season in the relegation zone, and could wind up being automatically relegated with a loss. That potential disaster could force the team to sell assets, with ESPN reporting on Tuesday that Sargent is one of the players who could be sold.
Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Monchengladbach, VfB Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen are mentioned as potential destinations for the American forward, though those are speculative mentions, with no actual official approaches having been reported yet.
Sargent 21, joined Werder Bremen in 2018 following a breakout Under-20 World Cup with the United States and is the joint leading scorer for Bremen with 5 goals in 31 games played.
The rumors of a possible transfer come at a pivotal time for Bremen, as the club sits in the relegation playoff spot, and fired manager Florian Kohfeldt on Sunday.
Ahead of the season finale against Borussia Monchengladbach on May 22, Bremen is one point away from automatic relegation, and one point away from escaping the relegation playoff all together.
A win against Monchengladbach and a loss or draw by Arminia Bielefeld would ensure Bremen a spot in the Bundesliga spot next season.
It’s a sad day for Bremen and Sargent. Bremen lost, while Cologne won. Schalke and Bremen relegated. If Bremen sold Sargent, it will be good for his career long term. The Bremen sit in manager started Sargent and Davie Selke, who is no good even for 2 Bundesliga’s standards, up top today. Selke couldn’t even finish when Sargent set Selke up for an easy tap in goal in the first half when Bremen were down 0-1. What a terrible team Bremen have been.
There is at least a decent chance that the relegation/promotion playoff in Germany will be between Werder Bremen and Greuther Furth.
Both Bremen and Schalke are on shaky financial grounds, exacerbated by the pandemic. Neither could make any investments to improve their clubs through transfers. To be honest, it was a valuable experience for Sargent, who was a regular starter and improved his overall game considerably while there. He will land in a better situation this summer if Bremen drops. Hoppe is likely dropping with Schalke out of the Bundesliga.
Perhaps Hoppe’s performance over the weekend will rekindle some interest. I’m not sold Schalke will have enough talent left to be competitive in 2 Bundesliga.
While Sargent has done well, he hasn’t exactly lit things up at Bremen. I’m not so sure he can get an offer from a good Bundesliga team. Maybe if he went to a top team in a lesser league like PSV or Ajax in Holland, Celtic, or a mid-level team in France he might be better off.
Landing at Ajax or PSV or in France would be ideal for Sargent. Getting regular minutes should be the priority, especially going in to 2022.
He’s not going to play much at Dortmund, Bayern, or RBL but if he can score for Bremen he can score anywhere. He wouldn’t likely be the top striker at those teams listed with interest but he’d certainly be in their rotation to play regularly and start some. Especially as some of those teams will be in Europa League they will need some squad depth. I don’t know enough about them to say which manager and roster would be a good fit though.
I’ll disagree slightly. Yes, he hasn’t “lit things up at Bremen”, and that is primarily due Bremen’s attack sucking. Not saying Sargent isn’t at fault at times, no player plays perfectly all season long. However, Sargent is accustomed to Bundesliga, he’s done well for a team that does NOT produce chances (one of the worst even considering B.2), and has proven capable doing all of the dirty work required of a target.
He could go to a lesser league OR he could stay in B.1 and join a mid-table team that actually provides service in the attack. There is interest in Germany and Bremen will be looking to recover financially. If relegated, I’d be surprised if Bremen returns to B.1 the following season and Sargent’s contract is up in 2022, so they’ll likely sell him off if there is interest this summer
To be clear I meant he could play for the teams in the article Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt or Mochengladbach.
He’s done his time. Time for Sargent to climb out of purgatory.